


How Tony Met "Rhodey"

by DR_Super_K_Lock



Series: Anthony "Tony" Armstrong [1]
Category: Iron Man (Comics), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: College Life, Dorm Life - Freeform, Gen, Magical Creatures, Roommates, Shifters, Slice of Life, Tony stark was raised as tony armstrong, Urban Fantasy, amanda as a siren, andrew as a gargoyle, because howard is not who he wants to be, bromance of the century, in the making, like his mother, rhodey as a were-bear, tiberius as a serpent, tony as avian, tony is a avian but pretending to be a siren, tony stark grew up loved and cared for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-22 11:54:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22582399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DR_Super_K_Lock/pseuds/DR_Super_K_Lock
Summary: Tony is a fourteen year old genius, attending MIT as a freshman and trying to hide his wings from his roommate. James Rhodes will become his best friend and their bromance will be legendary.
Relationships: Amanda Armstrong & Tony Stark, Amanda Armstrong/Andrew Bhang, Andrew Bhang & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony Stark & Tiberius Stone
Series: Anthony "Tony" Armstrong [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624993
Comments: 11
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote another thing.  
> Enjoy! :)

When Tony was eleven years old he plucked out his feathers. He got a pair of pliers out of his mom's tool box and used them to mutilate himself in the worst possible way that anyone of his kind could think of to do. He plucked at each feather, gritting his teeth to stop from yelling out and when that didn't work because it hurt so much, he stuffed a towel in his mouth and kept plucking. He did it while his mom was at work, skipping school and sitting in the bath tub so he could clean up the blood more easily.He made sure all the feathers and small fluff from them were in the trash bag after and tied it up tight, even going so far as to stuff it in another trash bag. Then he walked a block away from the apartments his small family of two lived and threw it in the big trash can behind another apartment complex.He made himself a binder, something to keep his wings close to his body, so they wouldn't flutter unnecessarily and so nobody would know he had them. They had just moved and that day was supposed to be Tony's first day at his new school. People would just think he had a hunch.Tony went to bed early and feigned sickness so his mom wouldn't question it and didn't once take his binder off, even when it began to ache so bad he couldn't sleep.The next day he went to his mom's closet and took out her knit sweaters and wore two of them before heading to school. When the teacher introduced him in front of the class, nobody made allusions to thinking he was hiding any wings under the baggy clothes. When there was break and others kids were coming up to him and trying to guess what he was, he let them think he was just a siren, like his mom. Nobody would compare his wings to Howard Stark's ever again.

  
....3 years later...

Amanda Armstrong was standing in front of the car, blocking her son from getting his things out of the trunk. She had her arms folded and was standing straight, looking down at her fourteen year old son, wearing his usual baggy sweater and rolling his eyes.

"Moooom..."

"Tony, I am just saying that if you have changed your mind, it's not too late for me to-"

"MooOOOOooom..."

"I've already talked to Andrew and he's agreed that maybe-"

"Mom!"  
Amanda took a deep breath, "You are fourteen. I have no idea why I even agreed-"

"Because I was bored and going crazy and you love me and want the best for me and you know that this is my dream school."

Mother and son stared at each other, one in over-protective mode and the other exasperated.

Then her shoulders slumped down from where they had tensed up and her sigh indicated she knew this was an argument she didn't get to win, "I love you so much Tony."

Tony rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, yeah I know." but he still came forward and hugged her tight. Then he mumbled, "I love you too." into her shoulder. She hugged him back, holding on as tightly as she dared, arms avoiding the area where she knew he liked to keep his wings bound back. "Make sure to work them often, if you don't you know you'll-"

"I know." He said quickly, and then he backed up and quickly stopped the subject from going further by gesturing to the trunk. "Can we open it now and start moving me in?" He smiled.

Amanda tried not to frown, she knew all her son's smiles and this was the fake one that meant he was bothered and trying to hide it form her because he didn't want her fussing or worried over him. She let him off, today was bad enough as it was, with her baby moving out of the house.

She ruffled his hair, smile growing when he laughed and jerked, "Mom, come on."

"Let's move you in then and go meet this roommate of yours." and see whether it was someone she didn't want around her son, if he was... well, she knew a few people. Or she could ask the person nicely to 'go away'. Being a siren had made her famous in the rock industry, but just because she only had used her gifts for the entertainment of others, didn't mean she didn't know how to use it to protect either. She opened the trunk and they began lugging his few boxes up the dorm room he would be sharing with a stranger for his school career. 

Tony's roommate wasn't there when they were moving him in, and he didn't show up while they were making the second trip either. He must've been coming tomorrow and Tony commented as such to his mom. She didn't look happy about that and got a look that meant she was thinking of just camping out in the dorm herself and waiting for this mystery roommate to show up so she could screen him. Tony tried to hustle his mom to move faster after that. 

Before she left to go back home though, they went out to eat and pick up a few last minute snacks, because his mom suddenly noticed, again, that her son was way too skinny.

Then Tony was left alone, in his dorm, with his unpacked boxes around him, in a place where he didn't know a single soul and had no friends. (Not that he had friends back home either, but he had his mother and Andrew there.)

Tony met his roommate the next day and even though he was the one that had predicted as such, it was still a surprise and quite an unwanted one. Tony had taken his binder off and had cautiously stretched his wings last night and taken the kitchen scissors he had brought with him and clipped the feathers that had grown out far more than he was comfortable with. He had stretched his wings, did the exercises that he was supposed to do so his wings still grew properly and didn't cripple him beyond flying. Not that he had ever tried to do so. He hadn't put the binder back on, had just tucked his wing nubs close in to his back and flopped face first onto the bed he had claimed. So when the door burst open and someone came stumbling in, swearing almost worse than his mother was capable of when angry, but still pretty damn impressive, Tony freaked out.

He jumped up, fell out of the bed, swore, pulled his blanket off the bed after himself(a big fluffy one that completely engulfed him and satisfied the part of himself that needed to nest that he frequently tried to ignore), and jerked to the spot on the floor where he had left his binder.

By the time the swearing had stopped, the person who had barged had managed to right himself and right the two boxes that he had been carrying and right himself. "Dammit Lilah! I said to be careful."

There was the sound of a girl laughing, trying to get out an apology, but unable to because of the gasping giggles.

"James-I'm- oh gawd- that was so-" and the rest was lost to incoherent gasping and cackles.

The guy who had fallen through the door, presumably James, presumably Tony's roommate, presumably someone that was very annoyed right now, dropped the two boxes in his arms down beside the twin bed Tony hadn't taken and shook his hands out.

James straightened and looked around, Tony saw him take note of the messed up twin bed beside his own claimed one and then the double take when he spotted Tony on the floor wrapped up in his poofy blanket. The other's eyes widened, his head jerked back just the littlest bit. Then a miniature, female version of James walked in, still wiping away tears from her laughing jaunt and holding her stomach. She startled when she spotted the bundle that was Tony, jumping back and bringing her hands up and squeaking and everything. Tony almost laughed himself.

The three of them stared all at each other for a minute, two shocked and one too goddamn shy to initiate contact. Finally, the girl, Lilah, his roommate, James, had called her Lilah, took the two steps that would put her almost up against her brother. She leaned to her right, "Psst, James, you have a gremlin as a roommate."

Which knocked James out of his stupor; he glared at his sister and slapped the back of her head, hard enough to knock her head forward, but not hard enough to really hurt, Tony could tell. "Lilah, manners! don't make me tell Ma on you."

"Ow! James!"

He ignored her and moved around her, hand out to where Tony was still huddled.

"Hello, James Rhodes, I'm guessing you're my roommate for the year, it's nice to meet you." He was smiling widely, welcoming.

It took Tony a second to move, but he only brought his hand out to shake James hand. Then he mumbled, "Nice to meet you to. Tony." Then he retreated, hiding his hand back in his blanket and burrowing a little further into it, hiding the bottom half of his face. He pulled his wind nubs just a tad tighter against his back.

How was he supposed to get his binder on? After that there was just awkward silence, until James jerked and gestured behind him, "This doofus is my baby sister, Lilah."

"Hey!"

"But don't mind her, she's temporary." James winked and smirked, obviously enjoying pulling his sister's leg. Who was now pouting and had crossed her arms. Tony smiled awkwardly, because he wasn't sure about how to take the friendliness and really stressed about them possibly seeing his wings. Then remembered that they couldn't see it because Tony was emergency nesting in his magically comforting blanket. Andrew had quilted it for him out of bit of his mother's clothes and bits of his own. The man had been his stepdad for two years and had made this blanket for him as soon as he had found out that Tony was going to be attending MIT.

When Tony had first opened it he had kept it with him for a week, just wrapped around himself.

James must have seen the reluctant amusement in his eyes anyway, because he smiled and backed up.

He took a deep breath, "Tony Armstrong. It's nice to meet you." It was mumbled and awkward and sort of stuttered, but he managed to get it out. Tony had never really been a people person.

But the guy seemed friendly enough, maybe this would be okay. "What are you?"

"Lilah!" James whipped around and glared at his sister, there was a little bit of a growl to it, Tony guessed they were some sort of were's. Or shifter types, but shifters usually weren't so tied to their extincts.

Lilah shrugged unrepentant, but did hunch her shoulders a bit in shame. James turned back to Tony, face scrunched in apology, "I'm sorry for my sister, she still speaks without thinking and doesn't care about her rudeness." James looked back to his sister, glaring.

Lilah looked away, her cheeks red, "Sorry. Was just curious."

"Which isn't an excuse for rudeness."

"Right. Sorry Tony, you don't have to answer."

Tony felt the blush burning his entire face and forced himself to answer, "It's okay," oh that was a squeak and obviously meant they knew he was lying. He cleared his throat and tried again, "I'm a siren. Thank you for apologizing."

The shame disappeared and she got excited, James stopped her before she could get started an embarrassing tangent of questions, "Lilah go downstairs."

"But-"

"Now."

Lilah pouted and glared at her brother a bit before giving Tony a smile and a little wave, then leaving. James watched her leave, then spoke, "She has no tact, but she's good hearted I promise." he looked at Tony, making sure he understood.

Tony nodded, "It's okay."

James grimaced, "It's really not, but she'll get better." He scratched his scalp, "We're werebears, by the way, just so you know."

Tony nodded. He was hitting his tolerance for normal human interaction. Only the littlest bit of his eyes were visible now. Tony was so happy he had this blanket. James nodded back, then gestured behind him and said, "I'll just be going to get the rest of my stuff now, gonna leave the door unlocked, 'kay?"

"'Kay."

As soon as he was gone Tony quickly put on his binder and clothes and very reluctantly spread his quilt on his twin bed and settled down on it. He still wanted to hide in it. This was going to be difficult.... 

\-----

Their first day together was awkward, James moved in and Tony stayed in his little corner of the room, on his bed, cross-legged and curled in on himself as much as he was able to without cramping up, reading his roughed up paperbacks. Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky; The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher; The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson; and Promise of Blood by Andrew McClellen. Tony read through all of them his first days in the dorms , trying to avoid getting into any sort of conversation with his new roommate, because he had never had to spend this much time around someone that he did not know in a long time-- actually never, he's never had to do this and it was wearing heavily on him. 

Luckily, by the time he had made it to his second read through of Children of Time, it was time for him to begin his classes and he could hide in the back of the class and avoid looking at people that he did not want to interact with in any way. 

Tony began to keep track of when his roommate went to class and left the dorm, because, back home it was easy to keep up with his routine, his daily routine that he had to do, or risk serious injuries that could permanently damage him and cause him life-long pain. Once he had the pattern down, definite times when James Rhodes would be out of the dorm, Tony used those times to stretch his wings and keep his binder off so that he wouldn't develop any sores or kinks. 

Tony, if he was completely honest, could do without the wings altogether, but there was the small matter of being unable to have any major surgery without a parent's consent. Removing an entire limb was not exactly a small feat either. His mom had concerns and had insisted he attend therapy. Had ever since she had first caught him plucking. 

There were dressers for each of them in the room, right across from their beds, Tony had nailed one door shut, so that when he crawled in with his blanket, he wouldn't fall out on his ass. He also put in a stick on nightlight so that he could read in there. Nesting was an instinct he was not fond of, but he had long since come to terms with actually giving into it, especially since he would be far away from home for the foreseeable future and in intensely uncomfortable situations.

Mainly, social ones. Nesting would help him not completely lose his mind and have an emotional breakdown. 

For a month, Tony managed to avoid James successfully, getting time inside his nest and getting out without James figures out what he had done in there. He was never caught and it was turning into the perfect crime. Until, Tony fell asleep in there for a few hours and James came back in that time. The opening of the door woke him up. Jolted him awake, causing his wings to jerk against his binder and his back to twinge. He gasped and then registered the noise and froze, eyes wide, heart racing. The door creaked and James entered the room, talking. 

"Yes, mama, I'm fine. I'm just coming back from class."

A bag hitting the bed. 

The creaking of a desk chair. 

"I don't know mama, he hardly talks and he doesn't try to talk back when I say hello."

Tapping on the desk.

"Yes. Uh-huh. He's really shy mama. I don't know, like fourteen, he can't be older than that. Looks like he's ten to be honest, but I don't think..."

Humming agreeably went on for a while. 

"He mostly keeps to himself and it seems like he's avoiding me on purpose. He always seems to be here when I'm not. You know, coming back when I"m leaving and leaving when I"m coming back. The only time we're in here at the same time is when we're sleeping."

Silence.

"Mama, I can't try to be friends with someone that doesn't want to be my friend back. I don't wanna be that kind of person."

A knocking sound like... was he knocking his head against his desk?

"Yeah, okay mama, I promise to keep trying. Love you too mama, talk again soon."

More silence, Tony slowly reached up and turned off the light that he had stuck up there. Then he started to mumble; eventually the wording began to make sense of itself, "How am I supposed to make friends with someone like that? He never talks back. The only thing worse than no friends is a friend you don't want at all." A groan and then sounds that mad Tony think that James was... getting his books out of his bag maybe...

Tony pulled his blanket closer to his body, each move slow and deliberate, extra cautious so that he didn't bump the door that he hadn't nailed shut. His muscles felt like they were glued down. Each little move, Tony swore he heard every little creek from them. It was late, James wouldn't be leaving the dorm again. So he could either stay in here all the rest of the afternoon and night and wait until James left for... what day was it again? Tuesday? It was Wednesday, so an afternoon class and then exact then, but he would miss his morning class and have to do extra stretches that would just hurt because he missed a session. Or he could crawl out and act like it was perfectly normal for a siren to take a nap in a dresser.

Tony was so tempted to go with the former option.

He would have gone with the former option. Except he had his phone in the dresser with him and the phone started to ring right at that moment. he could have ignored it, played it off as him forgetting his phone in his dorm, but it was his mom calling. He never ignored his mom. The one time he did she had kicked in a door. Doors. He had been playing a game at home and he had missed it by accident and his mother had kicked in their front door and then had kicked in his bedroom door. Then words had been had between them.

So, Tony answered the phone.

"Hello, honey, what are you up to?"

"Hey mom. Just taking a break from studying."

Outside, a chair creaked. "Tony?" James voice called out hesitantly. 

"How are classes? Are you getting lonely? I can come and get you anytime, just say the word and I can be out there as fast as the car can get me there. Probably faster."

Tony rolled his eyes, and leaned his head against the back of the dresser, "I'm fine mom, just taking a break from studying is all. How's Andrew?"

"He's fine. Worried about you too. He'll come and get you too, so if you can't reach me, you can call him and he'll come and pick you right up."

"I know mom, I know he will."

A huff and a sigh, "Okay. Are you making friends with that roommate of yours?"

A knock on the dresser. "Tony?"

"Sure."

"Tony." 

Tony scooted forward and pushed so that the door on the dresser swung open and scooted further out so that his feet hung out the door. Better he reveal himself than James tries that door that was nailed shut. Which Tony knew he was about to do, because when he slid out, blanket around his shoulders and phone to his ear, and saw that James had his hand on the handle of the door. James stared at him, wide-eyed and confused.

"Why were you in the dresser?"

"Tony? Is your roommate there?"

Tony shushed James and pointed to the ear that he had the phone on, "I'm fine mom, I love you, talk to you later, I have to go back to studying now." 

"Love you too baby, are you sure-"

"See ya mom!"

Tony hung up and stared at James, and shrugged, "What?"

James pointed at the door, pointed at Tony, looked behind himself and then turned back around and kept his finger pointed at Tony, with his eyes narrowed, "Why were you... in the... dresser?"

Tony stared at his roommate, deadpan, "I do what I want. Good night." Then he got out, closed the door and dropped onto his bed, hiding his head under the blanket and opening up his kobo app. 

"What?" James mumbled.

\-----

There was one class that Tony had, in an auditorium, with over a hundred students, where Tony didn't bother hiding in the back for, just made sure he was in a corner. He sat in the first row and actually answered questions in class. He did it often enough in this class that the professor had started to ask him directly now.

Tony liked it, he felt comfortable among this crowd and had stopped stuttering when he answered the professor's questions. 

It was his favorite class. Until that Tuesday anyway. The syllabus mentioned a group project, one that Tony had been dreading and immediately decided to deal with it only when he had to, so he had forgotten about it. Until the professor had brought it up that day. Then he lowered himself down in his seat and kept his head down in his book, hoping it would just go away. Why did he have to talk to anyone to learn? This was supposed to be a high school tactic, to make the kids socialize. This was not high school.

The Professor mentioned the group project at the beginning of the lecture and then said he would have everyone separated into pairs of two or three. Tony felt little bout of uncomfortable unhappiness settle into his chest. This was not what he wanted to do. He sat through sixty minutes of a lecture and then started gathering and packing up his things the last fifteen that also would have been part of a lecture, instead he left them to partner up and then started to pack up and head to his office. 

Tony packed up his last thing and got ready to leave, except just when he was about to get up, someone dropped into the seat next to his and talked to him. 

"Hi. I'm Tiberius Stone, you can call me Ty though." The unknown man held out his hand, smiling with eyes that had slit pupils. 

Tony held out his own hand, shocked and a little wary. He shook his hands, "Hi, Tony."

Tiberius looked around the room and turned back to him, "So, do you have anyone in mind to be partners with?" he smiled widely, which sort of freaked Tony out, but then again, he was uncomfortable with all human interactions. 

Tony crossed his arms, bag still over his shoulder and settled hesitantly back into his seat, "I don't know." He mumbled, avoiding the guys eyes.

"Would you like to be my partner?" 

Tony looked at Tiberius, his smiling face, his styled dark hair and eyes covered by round glasses, the first one besides his roommate(who was in close confines with him and was forced by his mom to try to make friendly with Tony) to talk to Tony voluntarily and in a friendly tone. 

He smiled, it slowly forming, hesitantly, like he was just remembering how to smile, "Yeah, sure." He nodded.

  
Tiberius reached out and patted his shoulder, "That's great, I'm going to enjoy working with you." He smiled wider.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, it's written up?" Tiberius asked, voice talking over someone else's, sounding cheerful, just like it always did. Tony pulled his feet up onto the chair, picking at his toes and nodded a while before his brain caught up and reminded him that verbal responses were required when talking on the phone. 

"Yeah, it's all typed up, I finished it a bit ago. Did you finish the slides?"

"Um.... Yeah, about that." His voice went guilty and sad, "Tony, I finished i and everything, but the USB stick I saved it on, when I tried to send it to you..."

Tony frowned, "What happened?"

"The file got corrupted."

Tony let his feet fall down off the floor and leaned forward, "The project is due in two days."

"I know and I'll get it done, I promise, but I also this other project due tomorrow that's worth... like almost half of my grade and I was already putting it off to finish the slides early and..." Tiberius hedged and then sighed loudly. "I'll get it done. No worries, no excuses."

Tony frowned, guilt settling in, "Maybe I can do them." he found himself saying before he actually had full time to think about it.

"Really?" He heard the relief clearly, "Tony you don't.... you don't have to do that. Thank you so much but..."

Tony jumped in, "It's okay, I can do it, please Tiberius, I wanna help."

He hemmed and hawed, but gave in, "Okay, thank you so much Tony!" Someone called for him over the phone and Tony's own attention was called away for a second by the dorm room opening. Tony turned and stared long enough to watch James walk in, reading a paper. "Oh, you can call me Ty."

Tony smiled, "You're welcome Ty."

Ty hung up, Tony put his phone down and braced his foot against the edge of his desk to slowly swing his chair back and forth. He fiddled with his pen. 

"That was your partner?" James asked. 

Tony looked over his shoulder at his roommate, he was taking off his jacket and then started to go through his bag, sorting out notebooks to start on his homework. 

Tony nodded, turning back around to restart his laptop and open up his files and also to open up power point. He could finish it in one night no problem. He already knew all the information, he just needed to find pictures. There was also the presentation part of the whole project, but Tiberi--Ty, he had said Tony could call him Ty, had said that Tony definitely didn't have to worry about that part, because the older university student was a great public speaker. Lucky on that bit, because Tony was just plain bad at speaking to anybody. 

"Yeah."

Tony was very aware of the noises behind him, of the other person settling in and beginning what Tony was also beginning; homework was one of the regular daily activities that Tony had begun to let himself stay in the room for if James was also in the room too at that time. Tony could put earbuds in and listen to music--which a very obvious Not Talking To People sign and keep his head down and not have to interact with the other one at all. 

They worked on their homework in silence. 

When James finished, he shut off his desk light and started getting ready for bed. Tony stayed on long after the other had fallen asleep.

\----- 

The presentation for the project went off without a hitch and they got a pretty good grade for it. Ty had laughed when they got it and shook Tony's shoulder and called him awesome and then made the other promise to always come to him immediately when they needed a partner for anything. Ty had also asked Tony if he wanted to meet up for a study group regularly, so they could write off each others notes. Tony had carried that with him for the rest of the day and even began to talk a little more with James when they were in the dorm together. 

The study group consisted of just Tony and Ty and the first one, Tony didn't even really pay attention to what he was reading, because he was kind of just tickled to be out with someone that actually wanted to hang out with him. Ty had suggested that they both go through each others notes to see if the other had caught something that the other one had missed. There was one or two things that Ty had put a different way than Tony remembered writing it down as, but then they just worked on their respective projects for other classes sitting across from each other. Ty asked Tony a question every now and then. 

Tony couldn't believe that Ty wasn't making such a big deal about asking a fourteen year old for help, there had been a few people who had given him looks when they had found out, and definitely a teacher of his from one class took it as a personal offense that someone so young could seemingly be in his class. It didn't help that Tony had pointed out a mistake the professor had made in one point of a lecture. He had even waited until after the class, hoping the entire time that someone else would have done it, but nobody had. 

To summarize it all, there were more bad things to start off Tony's first semester at MIT than there good, but he counted Ty introducing himself to Tony as one of those. He had also never told his mom about any of the bad things, because the last thing he needed was his mother trying all the harder to convince him to leave his dream school. High school was so boring. 

Not that the introductory classes weren't kind of boring too, but he viewed this as just the bad that he had to go through to get to the really good stuff.

They began to meet up once a week.

\----- 

In November, when deadlines were looming for last minute essays worth a fair amount more than all essays before these ones, Ty asked for Tony's help with a project that was in a class that was not their shared one together. Tony helped him, put off working on one of his projects to do it too.  
There was a row of computers in the library. In those rows there was empty desks where students could set up their own laptops, which is where Tony was currently googling away to his hearts content and compromising what he was finding into a report that he was going to send to Ty. Tony was sort of doing far more than Ty had actually asked him to do, but he was practically finished his essay already and could spare the time to help Ty with this. When they had talked about it and Ty had asked for Tony's insight on one part the other student had sounded like he had really been struggling with it. 

That was where James sat down beside him. 

Like, right beside where Tony was sitting. Deliberately. Tony knew this because there was a number of other computers open around them and when James sat down and placed his bag on the desk top, he turned and smiled at Tony in greeting.

"Hey."

Tony stared at the other in surprise and eventually gathered himself enough to mutter, "Hello." in response.

James logged onto the computer and opened his bag to route around in it to find his notebook and pencil case.

Tony slowly turned back to his own work.

This was... weird. 

He felt weird about it the entire half they worked side by side, somehow managing to still focus on his research. 

It was as Tony was typing up the last bit of it all into a word document and getting ready to attach it and email it all to Ty that he noticed James was reading over his shoulder. 

Tony startled.

James backed up and looked apologetic, "Sorry, just surprised. I had to do research on what you're doing for another class I'm taking. I thought there was only one of those classes this semester though."

Tony fidgeted. "Oh, um... this isn't for me." Then he turned back around and didn't notice the carefully blank expression that began to take over James face at that.

"Not for you..."

"Yeah, it's for a friend, he was having trouble and I'm just helping it out a little. Besides I'm almost done mine and this is really no trouble at all. He didn't even ask me, but he sounded so stressed when he was telling me about it. So... yeah..." Tony trailed off, ignored a small part of his brain that was telling him there had really been no need for him to over explain like he had just done. 

James hummed in response.

"Yeah, of course. That's nice of you."

"Yeah."

Tony finished up quickly after that and then said a quick good-bye to James and left. 

\-----

  
James started asking more questions after that, about Ty and if they were getting along and basically acting just a little bit like Tony would have expected his mother to start acting like if Tony were to have told his mother about Ty. Which he hadn't and that wasn't a big deal, because the last thing he wanted was for his mother to rush over here and interrogate Tiberius like he was a suspect for a string of murders. He just didn't want Ty scared off is all and that was the truth. Tony mostly just brushed off James questions though, because the other really had no right to be concerned at all really. 

Unfortunately, one of the days that James asked, was also one of the days that Tony had been unable to find any time at all to stretch his wings, and they were hurting him and he had also found a rip in his comforter and he couldn't find a good position in his nest and instead had had to settle for resting on his bed and all the open space was just agitating him further. It was not a good day and James interrogating was just making it worse(it was one question really, but Tony was hurting and sad and anxious and his wings wouldn't stop trying to flutter open and wings nubs were poking into his skin and it just sucked and everything little unpleasant thing was just amplified a hundred). 

"What do you care!" 

Silence.

Tony glared at the were bear, gripping his blanket in his lap tightly and throwing the needle and thread to the ground, because he couldn't fix the little tear(which just seemed huge) in his nesting blanket. He didn't know how to sew and every stitch he made just seemed wrong and horrible and he had to keep undoing it and it was just making the tear worse. 

James stared at Tony wide-eyed.

"Well!?"

James stuttered, but then his eyes firmed, "It's just... you help him a lot and it doesn't seem like..." James closed his eyes and turned his desk chair around to face Tony. He took a deep breath, "When was the last time he helped you?"

"We only have one class together."

"You're helping him with his classes that you're not in."

"We have a class together."

"Yeah... you said that."

Tony narrowed his eyes, "I get that I'm younger than most students here. You might feel the need to look out for me, but there is nothing forcing you to be nice to me. So you can stop asking stupid questions now."

James eye twitched, "I'm not the one taking advantage of you for my gains."

Tony's face went a little bit numb and an uncomfortable feeling settled into his chest, "Ty is my friend. He's not-"

"When was the last time you hung out together."

"We-"

"That wasn't studying."

"We're students, when do we not study?" The last sentence came out quietly, and Tony wasn't looking at James anymore.

Before the older student could say anything else, Tony got out from underneath the blanket and picked up his jacket and key chain and left. 

\-----

When Tony got back, deliberately not thinking about any of what they had briefly argued about, the rip in his blanket was gone, practically looked like it had never been there at all.

Tony refused to feel guilty. There was no reason for it. James wasn't right at all and he just had to stop thinking ridiculous things like that. 

Tony went to sleep. 


	3. Chapter 3

It was snowing outside and Tony did not want to venture out into it for anything. His mom was not here yet and he was taking every moment he could to not be in the cold cold open air. He would only be out there for a little while and then he would be in a warmed up vehicle and there would be a hot chocolate waiting for him and he would be fine. But it was still cold. Tony did not like the cold.

He was waiting in the lobby, because his mom had texted that she was fifteen minutes away—which meant that maybe half an hour—and to be ready downstairs. He had his stuff and was bundled down into one of the chairs that was the open area of the bottom floor of his dorm building. He was ready to go and god, now that he was almost back home, Tony was realizing just exactly how exhausted he was. He just wanted to fall into a seat in a place he felt safe in(his moms vehicle, after his hot chocolate), and then fall asleep. Then wake up a few days later. 

His eyes were half closed, his arms crossed tucked in close to himself and his chin was down to his chest. Which is how he was when a hand touched his shoulder and started him halfway to deaths door. 

Tony shot out of his chair, heart skipping more than one beat. 

“Woah, woah! Sorry! Sorry , man” James backed off quickly, arms up and eyes wide. 

Tony stared at him wide eyed, then haltingly sat back down in his chair. “It’s okay.” It really was not, but Tony said it in hopes that James would then walk away. 

Ever since James has voiced how he thought Ty was treating Tony? They hadn’t really talked. Some of it was because of how offended Tony had been by what was said and hurt. Because he had finally made a friend and there James was trying to tell him that he hadn’t made a friend at all. Then the rest of it was stuff that Tony didn’t want to think about, that had to do with embarrassment and fear and stuff that would make him just want to not come back. When he couldn’t wait to come back, but also a bigger part of him couldn’t wait to go home. 

Tony was so afraid of James being right. So, he had just went right back to avoiding him like Tony had been at the start of the semester. 

These were actually the first words that they had spoken to each since James had tried to awkwardly and not really sincerely apologize when Tony had bumped into him the day after the blow-up. 

It also looked like James was going to try and talk to him now. How unfortunate. 

Tony went back to slouching and looking down at the ground in hopes of delaying it long enough for him mom to arrive and make his escape( and drink got chocolate). 

“So... finals go okay for you, ya think?”

No such luck then. 

Tony shrugged and mumbled “I don’t know.”

It was so awkward. Where was his mother?

"Okay." James said and did not go away, which just made Tony all the more uncomfortable, because it made no sense to him. Why was this guy trying so hard? Tony had yelled at him, had practically called James a liar right to his face. There was no conceivable reason why he should be trying this hard to make nice with Tony. Unless his mother was still pressuring him to do so, which... actually made sense and now Tony felt the little bit of anger begin to burn all over again.

He was not a goddamn charity case.

"You don't have to keep talking to me just because your mother is telling you to."

James looked at him blankly, "What?"

Tony was suddenly all too willing to start yelling at his roommate all over again, but then he caught sight of his mother's vehicle rolling up in front of the dorm building through the front windows. He decided it would be more prudent to make a great escape and quickly snatched up his bags and basket, which, on his depressingly small fourteen year old body, almost had him falling right back over. When James reached out to help him, he magically found strength again and straightened and left.

"Bye."

His mother was just coming around the back of the jeep when he walked out, almost stumbling under the weight of his load. She caught quick sight of him and quickly grabbed a few of his bags from his arms and set them down.

"Tony, be careful."

"Okay."

Even though he said it, he would do it again if it meant that he could avoid another potentially guilt inducing encounter. She hugged him almost immediately when his hands were free and his bags put in the back.

She held onto him and refused to let go for a good few minutes.

He held on right back, and not even a little part of him thought of trying to pull back.

\-----

Being home was great, as soon as they got back and his mom pulled into their driveway, Tony was out and then hugging Andrew almost just as long as he had hugged his mom. Then he didn't bother eating at all, because he walked right to his room, mumbling some about taking a short nap, fell into his nest of a bed(which had so much blankets and pillows and wonderfully raised edges) and then slept until almost noon the next day.

When he got up, his mom and Andrew were lounging in the living room, watching Netflix, cuddled up together on the big chair. Andrew spotted him and pushed down the footrest.

"Morning kiddo, hungry?" He hugged Tony with one arm quickly as he walked past him to the kitchen, reaching inside the fridge for eggs and bacon and then reaching up to pull down the toaster from the cupboard.

Tony just made vague affirming sounds before walking over and falling into the chair next to his mom, who was playing some word game on her phone. She slung an arm around him, "Hey my boy. So glad you're home." She mumbled into his hair after giving him a kiss there. Tony nodded and settled in to watch whatever they had on.

Andrew cooked the food and then, when it was finished, brought it over for Tony and then settled on the long couch to watch the show with them all.

Andrew was a good guy and he was so glad his mom fell in love this guy as opposed to the other three boyfriends she had had while Tony had been growing up. Those guys had been too much into asserting themselves as 'the man of the house' and thinking they had a right to try and be bossy on him at all. His mom had shut that down real quick with all of them though.

Andrew had just tried to get along with him though, at first in a an annoying way, where he was obviously way nervous about it all and then secondly, in a we have something in common way. That something in common had been robotics.

Andrew had shown Tony his workshop after he had been dating Tony's mother for over half a year and that had pretty much cemented their now growing friendship.

Then he had moved in and nobody had tried to kill anybody(there was that one time, but they had all agreed to move past it and never speak of it again, because some fights nobody could win and the only thing to do was move on).

This was how Tony spent his break, they all lounged on the couch, Andrew and his mom going out for work and then coming back and them all just imitating couch potatoes. Tony went out only once, when he needed to buy Christmas presents, which he went out with Andrew and his mom both to do so. When they got to each shopping location, they all separated to find something for each other.

On Christmas day, they got up early, opened presents, made one last batch of holiday baking until it was time to start cooking Christmas dinner. They all ate enough to only be able to move to the couch and let it all digest. Then they watched Home Alone one and two and then all the Grinch movie adaptions.

New Years, Andrew and Mom's friends came over and there a party, with a potluck, where the last of the cookies were eaten up and more leftovers were made. Leftovers were Andrew's favorite meal. The leftover Thanksgiving sandwich was a sacred event for him, which was something that was not understood by Tony or his mother. They just left it be and didn't try to understand it at all, because sometimes mystery was always best when it came to certain subjects.

Tony enjoyed being back home. He was excited for his new classes, but it was somewhat dampened by the fact that he would be leaving his home to do so. He knew it was not permanent, that he would be coming back. It was still his first year. It would be easier when he entered his second(Tony hoped).

\-----

Andrew came with them this time to drop Tony off, bringing along a pile of goods that he had bought a mini fridge to put in. Andrew had managed to keep his motherhenning contained so far, but then Tony had come back and somehow, Andrew had looked at him and decided he had lost weight. Tony hadn't, but there was no convincing the good natured Andrew of such a thing. Tony then told himself to stop saying no to Andrew's food and then just quietly went along with it all. Because food.

Tony was not the first one back in the dorm, he had been the first one to leave, but he spotted James laptop on his desk and a few books on the bed, which actually meant nothing, because when Tony had left he hadn't exactly cleaned and for all he knew, James was just as messy as Tony was.

Which Tony doubted, because he had lived with the guy for four months already and every morning(James had had a morning class and none of Tony's had started before 12PM) James bed had been made.

It was as he was pulling out the last of his books out of his bag onto his desk that his phone pinged with a text. When he checked who it was, Ty's name came up. They hadn't contacted each other at all over the break. Ty hadn't even popped up as a thought the entire time Tony had been home.

-hey, are you back yet? wanna meet up? I need help with something-

It was an innocent text, something that friends certainly sent to each other, but it made Tony uncomfortable and clear as day, James words popped up in his head. About how Tony was only being used by the older student.

The uncomfortable feeling settled in his chest and his eyes locked on his closet nest.

He took off his shirt, undid his binder and gingerly stretched out his wing nubs. He let them flutter about, being very careful that he didn't accidentally twinge anything, get a crick in a wing bone, those hurt like a bitch, Jesus h. Christ. When they calmed down enough, he grabbed his pillow, threw it into the farthest corner of the dresser and then wrapped himself in his comforter and snuggled into the dresser.

In there, the only light was from the small crack of the doors and his phone. He answered the text slowly, not knowing why he was doing this, except it was nagging him now.

-too tired from traveling to study. we should just hang out, where are you?-

He sent it and waited.

It's not like it wasn't true, but now that he was thinking about it--he didn't want to, but the memories were just popping up--he had never turned down Ty when the other had asked for help.

The response didn't come right away, which stressed Tony out more, but he kept telling himself there was no reason to, so he pulled up his reading app and picked his current book he was reading.(For Christmas he had gotten a hundred dollar kobo gift card.)

He had managed to read a chapter and a half when he got a response.

-ok. sorry busy, can't meet up, maybe tomorrow.-

There was no reason for his heart to feel so heavy at that, because if Ty had asked for help, then he probably was working extra hard and couldn't just meet up anyway. There was no reason to think that Ty saw no reason to hang out with him if Tony was not helping him with his work. No reason to think that. They were friends. Of course they were.

Except, the semester hadn't even started yet, what work could Ty possibly need Tony's help with? 


	4. Chapter 4

The first week of classes, Tony continued to test Ty, without really acknowledging that was what he was doing at all with him. He would get a text from Ty, which all along the same lines of, 'I need help, are you free to meet up?' and Tony would give some variation of a reply of 'no tin the mood to work, wanna hang out anyway?' and Ty would politely sign off. Each reply of such though seemed to be getting a more sharper tone. Tony told himself that it was just in his head though, because there was no true way to tell what the tone was through text.

During that week, James continued to bring up conversation to Tony--or tried to, because Tony would not so politely back out of the conversation and then either escape into his dresser with headphones and whatever he was currently working on or leave the room entirely. One time he just sat out in a hallway two floors up and watched candy making videos, because they always improved his mood. Which was verging on the decidedly low end the entire week.

His first class of the semester was actually a morning one, because he had thought it was a afternoon one, which there was of this class, but he had clicked the other one and just hadn't noticed the entire time he had been picking all his other classes. That is until he checked the day before and saw it right there.

9:30-10:45

Just wonderful.

Tony woke up that morning and did not turn on his bedside light, just got ready by memory of where everything was. Not that he had that much to do, because he just had to wash his face, brush his teeth, find his jacket and books for this class and then stealthily stumble around to find his keys. Then he left, briefly forgetting he was being quiet and slamming the door closed. He flinched as the noise seemed to echo everywhere and groaned and slumped his head against the door. What was done was done, goddammit, he thought and locked the door and left.

He trumped through snow unhappily, with the sun not yet up and lighting up the campus currently blanketed by white snow. By the time Tony got to the building his class was in, he was shivering and a little more cranky and hating winter with every bit of passion he was capable of.

He hated winter so much

\-----

If Ty had had better control over his temper, Tony probably would have continued to let Ty low-key use him to further the older student's academic career. Tony would have continued to just fall into the pit of thinking he was asking too much and the 'friendship' between them was normal and his self-esteem would have been damaged almost beyond repair. Tiberius did have a temper though, and it worked out to allow Tony to see what he wasn't seeing for the entire semester before.

Classes had been going on for almost a month when Tiberius finally caught up with Tony. It was just outside the dorm building, with Tony just wanting to stretch his wings, which were not sore and he would like to keep them that way, when Ty walked up, waving his hand and huddled in his jacket.

"Tony!"

Tony turned and felt a little burst of joy at the sight of the taller and familiar set of glasses.

"Hey Ty!"

"Yeah, hey, finally caught you." Ty stopped right in front of Tony and smiled, his eyes closing for the action and head tilting, then he shivered theatrically. "Going to let us in then?"

Tony startled, "Yeah, yeah, of course. So cold." Tony absently noted and then let them both in and Ty followed Tony up to his dorm room. 

Tony unlocked the door and when he twisted the doorknob and opened the door, Ty entered first, which was not what Tony had meant by that, but he shrugged it off and walked in. Ty looked around the room, at every little bit of it and Tony watched him do so, feeling awkward. Ty was the first one to move, turning around with that smile before that kind of... looked... a little fake, Tony thought. Which could mean anything, because a lot of people had trouble smiling, right?

"I've been trying to get a hold of you since the beginning of the semester, but you've been dodging me." Ty laughed, but there was a bit of tension to it. Tension that made Tony wary.

"I haven't been dodging you." Tony said clearly, because he hadn't. He had even waved at Ty one time and the other student had not waved back. Tony had offered to meet up with Ty to hang out multiple times, but the other just wanted help with work.

The smile turned down, "You've blown me off every time I've texted to ask if you were free."

What the fuck.

"That is not I've been texting back and you know it. I've asked if you wanted to hang out, I just didn't want to work on schoolwork when we did."

Ty sighed and shrugged and looked back at Tony with wide, exasperated eyes, "Yeah, of course I have, because we're study buddies Tony. When I need help with my work-"

"You needed help with your work when we just got back from Christmas break before classes even started. We had no work."

"So I like to stay on top of my workload Tony, that's not a reason to ridicule me."

"I'm not ridiculing-"

"I'm just trying to keep up my grades!"

"Fine!" Tony moved forward and dropped his bag onto his bed and took out his laptop, setting it back up on his desk.

"There's no need to yell Tony."

"There's no need to be studying all the time. I just want to hang out with you and not be studying."

"Well that's all well and good for you little teenage geniuses, but most of us weren't blessed with a genetic cheat code."

The shaft of hurt at those words surprised Tony, because what? Tony turned around slowly, eyes wide, "Excuse me?" he asked quietly.

Ty rolled his eyes, his arms were crossed casually and he didn't have his usual smile on for once, "I'm not a genius Tony. You are. It's bad enough that you were showing off all last semester, always knowing the right answers. If you're going to show off, you might as well help us 'non-genius' folks." Now Ty had a derisive curve to his lip.

Tony opened his mouth, closed it, blinked burning eyes. He didn't know what to say to that. He hadn't been... he had never meant to... "I wasn't showing off..." He muttered finally.

"Oh, like hell you weren't, and now that you're bored of me-"

"You've been blowing me off!" Tony yelled, finally finding some energy to do so, "I tried to set up times for us to hang out-!"

"Oh, sure, like I want to be seen around the place with a annoying know-it-all child by my actualy friends!"

The door slammed shut, startling them both.

Ty turned around, Tony turned around to, opening up his laptop and logging onto his account.

James voice came from behind him, "Get out of my dorm."

Tiberius laughed harshly, one that was just huffed out in more of a scoff, "So you're the poor guy that got stuck with this brat for a roommate. Man, I don't feel sorry for you-"

"You're annoying me, get out." James cut Tiberius off, his own voice tight."

"Fine, whatever."

The door was opened, footsteps leaving the room, then the door shutting again, this time much more gently than it had been last time.

Tony sat down in his chair and opened up his web browser and logged into his Netflix account. Then he reached for his headphones, but then remembered they were still in his bag. He took a deep breath and got up and kept his head down as he reached for his bag on the bed and rummaged inside for the new gamer headphones that Andrew had gotten for him. He just wanted to put them on and get lost in the world of K-drama that he and his small group of people had gotten obsessed with over the holidays.

"You okay?"

Tony lifted his gaze, caught James soft, trying to be neutral one and looked back down.

"Fine." He turned and settled back in his chair.

"You were right. Great for you huh?"

"No, Tony, he was a jerk and-"

He put his headphones in and pressed play.

\-----

Tony made sure he didn't run into Tiberius, even though he hadn't really done so before the whole shouting match(Part two; the sequel; enter the new opponent and everything) and it wasn't that hard at all. Although, it did stress him out a little more because he was constantly looking over his shoulder and jumping and trying to hide when he thought he heard a voice that sounded like Tiberius's.

His real friends, the older student had said. Had said being seen with Tony would be embarrassing.

It fucking sucked.

Tony didn't have any friends from school, was too much of the quiet kid and the nerdy kid and a bit of the weird kid that got far too excited about everything to really have any bit of a rational actual conversation with. He should have known better that someone would just pop down right next to him and offer his friendship without ulterior motives.

He moped for a week or two, is basically what he did, lied to his mom about something not bugging and then felt guilty about how easy it was becoming, spent more time in his dresser nest that he used to and kept to his books and K-dramas.

One night, when he was far too into a episode and making noises when something exciting or horrible or far too dramatic to actually believe happened, he noticed James watching over his shoulder when the next episode was queuing up.

Tony twisted his head so that he was looking right at James, and waited for the other one to notice him. When James did, he jumped back and looked guilty, "Sorry, I just... it was just... it's... interesting..." He finished lamely. Tony just continued to stare at him impassively, then very slowly reached to where he had his headphones in and pulled them out of the port.

The next episode had started and the opening intro played through his laptop speakers. Tony then turned around and rolled up his headphones to continue watching his show.

It took a while, about the whole episode for both of them to relax and enjoy the show together. James watched the first half from behind Tony and then moved to the bed and then eventually got up real quick to carry his chair over to where Tony was. By the end of the episode, Tony's shoulders had come down from around his ears and he had readjusted the laptop so that it was in the middle of them and they could both see it better. They didn't acknowledge what they were doing, but before the next episode started, James had got up and made popcorn and put the bowl between their chairs. They ended up binging ten episodes, well past midnight. James commented that it was good, Tony replied that it was a drug and there was no chance of a cure for either of them.

That had made Tony's roommate laugh and he allowed himself to feel proud, before clamming up and getting ready for bed and then snuggling down into his blanket. James took the hidden message for what it was and didn't mention it again, until the next day, when Tony waited for James to get back from class and for both of them to finish a bit of homework, before turning on Netflix again and beginning the next episode.

James was set up right beside Tony before the opening credits were finished. 


	5. Chapter 5

"She should pick the cop."

"Shut up, you heathen."

James threw his hands up in the air and stared at Tony incredulously, "He's a good guy!"

Tony scoffed, "And I'm a teenaged alcoholic."

"I knew it." James said, deadpan, looking Tony right in the eyes.

Tony threw popcorn at him.

"Heathen."

"Alcoholic."

James scooched forward on his chair, reaching over the laptop to grab at the pack of twizzlers that were on the textbooks pushed against the wall. He sat back with a thump and ripped open the bag, instantly wrestling away one from the clump of them all. He held the bag out to his right and Tony reached for one, wrestling the same battle that James had just had to get one of the marvelous treats they were obsessed with.

It was struggle, the little fuckers could stick together like nothing else and Tony just didn't know why they unstuck them all as soon as they got them. The one time he had suggested it to James, the other had responded with, "But it's like a game. If we don't struggle, we don't deserve to eat the treat." Tony had rolled his eyes, then James had thrown the empty plastic bag at his head. Tried to at least, it had fallen half-way there and then Tony had laughed at James mockingly.

They managed to eat the entire bag by the end of the episode, having to pay attention and having to pause it every time they started to argue about a comment the other one had made. They were binging that last few episodes(there were three left) and had bought a bag of twizzlers for each one. Tony's small fridge was also stalked with Sprite and Pepsi. They were ready to go non-stop.

Except, when they were half-way through the last episode,(which ah!!! so much tension) Tony's phone rang and when he checked it, it was his mother. Which meant that he absolutely had to pause it, so that he could answer. His mom would never understand him ignoring her call for some show. She would never forgive him.

He also may have gotten a little joy out of doing it too, as revenge for when James had paused the episode with the bomb just as it was about to go off , when James had to answer his phone when his mom was calling.

"Hello."

"Hey my boy, how are you?"

"Good, just watching a show. What's up?"

"Nothing, can't I call just to check up on my son?"

Tony rolled his eyes, "You can call anytime you want mom, you can call when I'm in class. You can call when I'm on the bus. You can call when I'm sleeping and you had a dream where I was ignoring your calls."

Not that these were all things that had actually happened. No. Not al all.

"Shut up you."

Tony snorted out a laugh and reached for another twizzler--the bag of which was quickly snapped out of his reach. Tony gasped and looked at James, shocked. He mouthed, "Why?"

His roommate just stared back impassively, "You get a twizzler when the show is put off pause."

Rude.

Tony glared and slumped in his seat, sliding down, with his knees against the desk as the only thing keeping him from falling off it completely. His eyes were narrowed to slits as he glared up at James mulishly.

"What's wrong?" His mother's voice startled him back to their conversation.

"I'm watching a Drama." The capital 'D' in 'Drama' was implied and they both very well knew it.

An offended noise came from the other end of the call, "Without your mother and Andrew?"

Tony very obviously did not roll his eyes, because he was doing that far too much and he had to stop.

"I'm watching it with... James..." The hesitation over the name part was not whatever anybody was thinking.

"James?" sharp interest now. "As in, the roommate. As in, the boy I have yet to meet?"

"Not my fault."

It was kind of his fault, but only in a very indirect sort of way.

"You're watching a show with him? Like... you would with a friend?"

Tony tensed and pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it and then put it back. Was that a catch? Did his mom's voice just catch? Was she about to cry?

Tony flew across the room and crashed into James.

James eyes widened when he saw Tony flying at him.

"Wha-!"

Tony hit his roommate, the chair tipped back, hit the desk, knocked the laptop over and it tipped slowly over the edge and hit the floor on it's corner.

They stared at it wide-eyed.

Tony started muttering, "Oh, my god, oh my god, oh my god, ohmygod."

Then he remembered his mom on the other end and reached for James cell-phone.

"I need your phone!" He hissed-whispered.

He grabbed it, swiped for the number pad, rang Andrews number and waited.

Andrew picked up on the second fourth ring, "Hello?" Came the tentative welcome.

"Andrew!" Tony hissed, "Mom's going to cry! Help me!"

"Tony? Cry? Oh! Well-" There was a bang, than a crash, a door slamming open, running footsteps. "Amanda?"

"Andrew?" His mom's voice came from both ends, then a sniffle. "Andrew, Tony made a friend."

"Aw, honey."

Then there was just sounds of comfort and Tony sagged off his clinging, half-sitting position on James and fell to the floor.

He lay in a relieved heap and probably would have stayed like until his mom was safely away from tear territory, if James hadn't spoken up a minute later.

"Uh... Tony? Can I have my phone back?"

\-----

Tony got a text from his mom everyday after that, asking him about his friend, if he wanted her to send James anything in the care packages she sent over every other week(mini-pie, he wanted one of Andrew's mini-pies). she asked about what they were doing and what they were studying and when she called, she demanded that Tony put his phone on speaker if James was also in the room and then would proceed to demand answers to her questions from both of them. To be fair, the older student took it all in with good humor and was charming and came across as well likeable and all around good during those conversations Tony was bullied into bullying James to join in on. Tony didn't really pay much attention to his mom's stray, "Tony made a friend comment", because he was currently following broken logic.

It went thus: as long as he did not acknowledge that James was his friend, he would be able to keep James as his friend that was not really a friend, just a person that Tony spent the most time with at MIT, because if he were to acknowledge it, the only thing that could possibly happen was that his roommate's(a safe term in this instance that did not imply that they were friends to each other in any way what-so-ever), 'true' intentions would become clear and Tony would molt from stress, never leave his nest area and then be forced to go home, because his mother would come in riding a steed of flame and slay all thine enemies in thy path.

Or something along that line...

\-----

When Tony eventually saw Tiberius again, because it was a big feckin' school, but it Murphy's Law and all that, he was walking with James across the park.

Tiberius caught sight on Tony just as Tony caught sight of him and it looked like he was about to say something to the group of people he was with, but then there was a growl. A deep, baritone, rumbling growl that seemed to freeze everyone in the park and within sight. An arm came around his shoulders and pulled him close and then Tony was vibrating. Tiberius looked away, a little pale, but pretending like he wasn't. The growling slowed, until it was just a soft rumble, than a gentle nudge had Tony walking away with James down the path again. He looked up at James wide-eyed, who just looked grumpy and angry and had that same look in his eye that Tony would see in his mom's sometimes. One memory stood out, where there had been a suit wearing man at the door, with a suitcase and a cold demeanor, who had wanted his mom to sign some papers. She had whispered something into the man's ear, whose eyes had turned glazed and then had walked away. She had cried a little that night and held Tony so hard he complained he could not breathe.

Fortunately, James didn't hold on that tight.

Okay, maybe James was a little bit of a... friend.

Although, if Tony was going to be talking to him for as long as he assumed... 'friends'... talked, then something would have to give, because Tony could not keep trying to avoid calling his roommate by his given name.

Tony swung his arm around the other student's waist, "Hey."

"Yeah?" It came out through only a little bit of a growl, which had lessened far more significantly the farther away they got from where Tiberius was.

"How do you feel about..." Tony pursed his lips, sucked in a breath, looked around for inspiration, squinted one eye.

"Tony?"

"How do you feel about...." Tony let his arm swing free and then swung it back up and patted his roommates back, "How do you feel about Rhodey?"

"What?"

Tony grinned wide, "I feel great about it."

"What?!"

Tony nodded and gripped RHODEY's(he really did feel great about it!) shirt so that his arm was anchored. "Rhodey it is."

Rhodey sputtered, "You just can't rename me Tony!"

"Watch me."

\------

So Tony met Rhodey, the were-bear that would be his best friend through explosions and fights and falling in love with a man that he would very much not approve of and trust his best friend with. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished a work, holy shit, I finished a work.   
> It's not my best, but I still love it and am very proud of myself.   
> Thank you to everyone who read this and will read this in the future, I hope it made you smile, or laugh, or even just shake your head in a 'I can't believe that happened' way.   
> I'm thinking... Pepper next?  
> Truly yours,  
> ~DR.SKL


End file.
